In addition to overall physical fitness, the objective of a large segment of gym and health club clients is that of developing, shaping and toning muscles. Furthermore, there is particular focus on the leg and gluteus muscles in the female segment. Given these objectives, the most sought after activities are weight-training and targeted muscle training.
An essential piece of equipment for weight-training is the squat rack, a rack designed to hold a barbell. This piece of equipment is used to perform the back squat, an exercise considered to be one of the most complete particularly for the legs, glutes and core. This piece of equipment is also used for other variations of the squat, various types of lunges and a wide range of exercises for other muscle groups.
Weight-training is a highly effective form of training that produces results in a relatively short period of time. However, despite its effectiveness a large segment of the training population is uncomfortable in a weight room environment. This causes many people to prefer group classes targeted at specific muscle groups despite their inferior effectiveness with regards to the quality and speed of results when compared to weight-training.
Currently, the squat rack is exclusively found in weight-training rooms. The racks are not movable, their shape and size make them inadequate for fitness studios and it is very difficult to store a large quantity of racks in a studio after use.
Therefore, targeted muscled training classes such as “Body Pump”, “GAP”, “MIB” (Made in Brazil) amongst others, use an unsupported (no rack) weighted barbell supported only by the users' shoulders to exercise the legs through squats and lunges. The lack of proper support for the barbell during these classes presents the following limitations and risks:                1. For participants in general, and particularly for beginners, it is unsafe to perform squats and lunges supported by the shoulders without the extra support of a barbell rack. The lack of support reduces the safety and control of movement. This also applies to exercises for other muscle groups such as biceps, triceps and the back muscles.        2. With regards to intermediate and advanced participants, the lack of support does not allow the use of the correct load for the legs and glutes, which are the most powerful muscles in the human body. Therefore a load that a practitioner can raise manually (using the arms) off the floor and place on his/her trapezoids (or anterior deltoids in the case of the front squat) is generally insufficient to effectively stimulate the leg and glute muscles. This is particularly true for squats but also applies to lunges.        3. There is a high level of risk involved with handling loads in order to achieve adequate stimulus for the legs and glutes. Consequently, a large number of accidents and injuries occur during the process by which the participant places, or removes, the loaded barbell on his/her shoulders.        4. The risks of poor form are heightened due to the lack of a physical reference to aid the participant in the orientation and control of the movements.        5. The participants carry the loaded barbell on their shoulders for an excessive amount of time (various minutes) while they perform the full range of leg exercises which are performed with almost no rest periods.        6. The participants are unable to adjust the load (weight) to the different exercise types during the entire session. This results in the use of inadequate loads for certain exercises. For example, the adequate load for squats is very different to the adequate load for lunges.        